Covid-19 transformed our society. Unprecedented restrictions were imposed on people’s lives, many businesses were closed, workers were furloughed or shifted to home-working, while education and learning all moved online. Both the Scottish and UK governments were granted extensive emergency powers to allow swift responses to the crisis. Other activity was suspended while the focus of government, local councils, and the NHS was redeployed to tackle the virus and the many challenges the pandemic created. The impact of the pandemic has been devastating with thousands of lives lost, families separated from loved ones, people shielding, businesses closing, and workers struggling to pay the bills and make ends meet.
While Covid-19 is not going away, two years on there is hope. Research and innovation have given us tools like testing to identify and help contain outbreaks. Vaccines have helped reduced the severity of infections and we have new treatments in antivirals for those who become ill.
At the same time, whilst much of society has returned to normal, the 180,000 people who were on the highest risk list feel abandoned. Masks are gone, social distancing is over, free testing has been massively scaled back and access to anti-viral medication is not consistent.
Scottish Labour has published two papers on our Covid-19 strategy:
Read our Covid Resilience Plan to learn more about our campaign to ensure that the most vulnerable in society are still protected.
Read our plan on ‘Living Well with Covid’ on the need to build resilience into our response systems and public services and give people certainty about the future.